Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
by Lakitu Cameraman
Summary: I know this story has been done to death, but hear me out. This is a unique twist on the classic tale of two rivals meeting again for payback... or so they think. What chaos will arise when Mario and Sonic-two superstars with opposite personalities-are asked to join as a team?
1. The Beginning of the Festival

Mario &amp; Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games

Mario &amp; Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games

Novelization of Festival Mode by Cameron Spencer

Chapter 1: The Opening of the Festival

"M-M-M-Mario…" said the small, green clad plumber to his smaller counterpart. "I'm-m-a freezin'. Wh-wh-where's-a my Tanooki Suit?"

"Luigi!" The smaller man scolded. Luigi certainly couldn't be that cold already! They had just disembarked the helicopter at the airport of Vancouver, Canada. Mario could certainly understand Donkey Kong _possibly_ being cold, all the gorilla wore was a necktie, but even he wasn't complaining. Luigi already wore a green shirt, blue overalls, gloves, boots, and a green cap with his initial on it, not to mention a rather large lip-warmer under his nose. Mario's attire, by the way, was nearly identical, including the bushy mustache, only everything green was red. Mario had more problems with Luigi's supposed coldness. Luigi had definitely been in colder places. A shiver went down Mario's spine as he thought of Luigi and his adventures in Ice Land back home in the Mushroom Kingdom. They had almost been eaten by Piranha Plants, frozen in icy water, and smashed by Thwomps! Another complaint was that the Tanooki Suit looked like brown pajamas with fox ears and a raccoon tail. Priceless back home, but utterly useless and absurd-looking in Canada. After all, they mainly used it in emergencies, as they had the incredible ability to turn into a statue while wearing it, but who would attack them here? This was the 2010 Olympic Winter Games! Mario expressed this to his brother.

"Yeah, Luigi; Buck up!" said a voice from behind them. It was Princess Daisy of Sarasaland, a sporty brunette dressed in an orange, fur shirt that went down to her knees, white leggings, gloves, and white shoes. She also wore a gold crown with four emeralds fixed within. She was good friends with Luigi, but Luigi was completely head-over-heels for her. But Mario couldn't tease him; he had his own girl. "How are you going to win the Olympics with _that_ attitude?" Daisy continued.

Luigi almost literally melted. After that, he didn't complain any more.

It was beautiful outside as they walked toward the Olympic bus stop. Snow covered the ground, the buildings, and about everything. Two or three black lines marked the not-yet-plowed runways. Mario looked behind him. Luigi had moved over to Daisy. Behind them were other people he knew very well. Donkey Kong was there. His grandfather had actually once been one of his enemies. When they first met, DK (now known as Cranky Kong) had broken out of a circus cage and captured his first love, Pauline. But after Mario saved her, she had run off with another guy. When Mario and Cranky's grandson, Donkey Kong, met one another, after the gorilla had escaped to the jungle, they warmed up to one another. He sighed, at least Peach would never do what Pauline did.

Princess Peach. Princess of all the Mushroom Kingdom.

Mario looked into her eyes. Peach looked straight back. He noticed she had an expression of hidden annoyance on her face. She had started walking faster to catch up with him the moment their eyes had met. She slowed down to Mario's pace when she reached him. She wore the same outfit as Daisy, her best friend, except her attire was pink instead of orange. She had gems of red and blue in her crown. Her long hair was naturally blonde; she once thought it more fashionable to dye her hair red, but Mario thought she was beautiful either way.

Mario cast Peach a concerned expression. Peach caught it. That was how they communicated, since Mario rarely spoke.

"Oh, Mario," Peach said in reply to his look. "Nothing's wrong. It's just Wario and Waluigi are being… um, a bit aggravating.

Mario looked back. "Mama Mia…!" he started to say. Then he caught himself. The two blokes were having another one of their regular skirmishes. The two were rolling around on the ground, batting at one another. This, Mario knew, would evolve into a snowball fight. They wore elf-like shoes, but other than that they were dressed similar to Mario &amp; Luigi. Wario's shirt was yellow, his overalls were purple, and his shoes were green. Waluigi wore solid purple, except his shoes, which were an orangeish-rust color. Wario, like the Mario Brothers, had his initial on his yellow hat. Waluigi, on the other hand, did not. Instead, he had an L that was flipped to the side, and then turned upside down to make a 7-ish shape. Wario could sit around a table all by himself; Waluigi was almost literally skin and bones. Both were crazy about gold and extremely self-centered. Both hated the Mario Bros. as their self-proclaimed rivals.

A green dinosaur about as big as Luigi was bouncing up and down trying to shut them up. This smooth-skinned, cute-looking beast was called Yoshi. It is no coincidence that "Yoshi" means "good" in Japanese. Yoshi had helped Mario in several past adventures, and was loyal to Mario no matter what. Yoshi's nose, about five times the size of Mario's large rounded one, was spherical with two small nostrils in the front. The small dino had a red shell on his back, and Mario frequently used it for the purpose of a saddle. Yoshi was an omnivore, and used his long, frog-like tongue to grab and devour anything and everything he could.

Despite Yoshi's best efforts, the dino simply could not separate the infuriated partners. They were shouting bizarrely at each other, even over Yoshi's constant cries of "Yoshi, Yoshi!"

At the back of the line, a large, intimidating figure was losing his patience. He could be formal when he was calm, but he was the King of the Koopas! He didn't have to tolerate any of this garbage! The spikes protruding out of the ferocious shell on his back glistened in the morning sunlight. He reared back his vicious, horned head, and let loose a massive growl. It caught the attention of everybody in the airport, thankfully including the fatso and his squabbling sidekick. One look at the Koopa King sent them bolting away screaming. Bowser folded his arms crossly.

"Bah!" he scoffed. "Losers." He scratched underneath the studded bracelets on his thick arm. Then he looked down.

Yoshi was glaring at him.

"Well, what do _you_ want, grapes-for-brains?!" Bowser asked irately.

"Boo," replied the Yoshi, obviously annoyed at the Koopa King's reaction.

"Well, don't you get fancy with _me_! You've helped those Stupid Mario Bros. too many times for me to _not_ kick ya out of South Americ— well, wherever this place is!"

Bowser paused. Now Mario was glaring at him. Wherever Bowser went, Mario thought, trouble followed. Trouble for Mario, his brother and the princess. Who knew what evil plans could be forming in that cold-blooded villain's mind? Mario would have to be wary. Yes, he would be very cautious. Mario remembered the ways Bowser had tried to cheat at the 2008 Beijing Summer Games they were invited to. And now that he had brought his son…

"GARRRAGHH!"

Mario jumped as the voice behind him rang through his ears, startling him.

The voice spoke again, "Look, Daddy! Didja see that? Didja see that? I did it! I scared Mario!"

Mario groaned. Oldest trick in the book.

"Good work, Junior!" said Bowser, chuckling in delight.

Bowser Jr. A perfect example of the truth of the phrase, "like father like son." He was everything his father was. Cruel, selfish, and a complete beast. He was physically a miniature version of his dad; claws, two sharp teeth, horns, a spiky shell, and black, tight bracelets. In addition to his less intimidating look, he wore a mask with long teeth drawn on it over his face. This was for terrorization, although it frequently fell off and just covered his neck.

"Mario, relax," Peach reassured Mario in a gentle voice. "We both know you can beat them both single-handedly. You'd have him on the floor before he could even attack."

Mario knew this was true. He had saved the Mushroom Kingdom from Bowser several times before. If he wanted to, he could dash over to the Koopas and launch them right back to the helicopter before they even knew what had hit them. But he did not want to.

Mario wasn't that kind of person.

The large group entered the waiting room of the bus station. Little mushroom-shaped creatures called Goombas and Yoshi-sized turtles called Koopas, along with other creatures Mario couldn't name, were strolling around, collecting luggage and minding their business. Luigi was so relieved to be out of the cold that he literally flopped down on a seat.

And right on the solid-looking figure already sitting there.

"Hey! Watch it, Buddy!" The person…or thing…said as Luigi leaped off the seat with a screech of panic.

Mario gave his brother a stern look.

The red plumber looked at the creature Luigi had sat on. He looked vaguely familiar. He was red all over, thin but firm, with large, spiky fists, bizarre shoes, spikes drooping down from the back of his head, huge eyes, and a small sliver of a nose pointing up from the tan space where his mouth was. He was glaring at Luigi in rage. Mario had no idea what to call him. Thankfully, he got an answer — and Luigi got a bail-out — moments later.

"Cool it, Knuckles! He didn't see you! That gives you no reason to shout!" said a similar but less solid-looking someone. But Mario recognized _him_. The blue creature who had just appeared was Sonic the Hedgehog. They had faced one another in the Beijing summer games. The hedgehog was slightly thinner than the red Knuckles, and spikes on the back of his head stuck straight back. He had pointy ears, and aerodynamic-looking shoes. Mario didn't like him very much. He was too cocky.

Knuckles was now paying no attention to Luigi. His focus was completely on Sonic. "Ok, I'm sorry, _mom_!" he retorted.

They were almost at each other's throats when a golden-furred fox, obviously a child much more sophisticated than Bowser Jr., dove between them. The fox boy had been standing next to Sonic the entire time, but he hadn't really been noticed at that point. The thing that was peculiar about him was that he had two tails.

"Guys!" He shouted. "Calm down!"

No reaction from the two fighters.

The fox looked at the other group pleadingly. Mario and Yoshi sprang into action. Mario leapt up and bounced on Knuckles' head once, twice, three times. Knuckles fell flat on his face at the third jump. Yoshi, to deal with Sonic, simply grabbed him with his long, sticky tongue, and held the hedgehog in his cheeks. He then walked obediently over to the fox in an 'Ok, I've got him, what do I do with him' fashion, similar to what he did with Mario.

"Um, thanks," the fox said to Yoshi. "Could you spit him out, please?"

Yoshi spit him out with a "Bum."

"Ugh…" said Sonic. "I smell dino-breath." Yoshi made a laughing noise.

Meanwhile, Knuckles wasn't doing so well either. Mario asked him if he was angry anymore.

"I don't think I can feel _anything_ after those bonks," Knuckles said, aching. Mario let him get up.

"Sonic, it's Team Mario! We should say hello," the fox stated matter-of-factly.

"Um, Ok," Sonic said, a tad confused about all that was going on at the moment. Then he noticed Mario's group. "All right," he continued, regaining his composure. "You… guys…probably already know me—Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog."

"Hey!" Bowser interrupted. "You're that blue rat who beat me in the Summer Games!"

The word "rat" hit Sonic like a slap in the face. That was the worst insult a hedgehog could get. "I'm not a rat; I'm a _hedgehog_," Sonic said back. "You should know that by now." Then, pointing to the fox, he continued before Bowser could retort. "You should also be familiar with Tails and Knuckles."

Knuckles was now standing next to the other two animals. "And…" Sonic looked behind him.

Where was the rest of his group?

"One moment." Sonic dashed out of the room and into a hallway.

"Guys!" They heard Sonic's voice say.

"What?!" a huffy female voice replied.

"Introductions."

"Oh, Ok! Hey, everyone! We're introducing ourselves to… to the _other_ team!"

Sonic returned with other people behind him.

"Ok, moving on," Sonic continued. "If you please…"

Sonic's team just stood there, looking a bit angry.

Finally, a purple creature stood forward. "It appears that the rest of my fine team is being a tad immature, so I'll begin. My name is Blaze. The pink hedgehog next to me you should know as Amy Rose." Said hedgehog was staring grimly at Peach. Mario felt himself edge closer to his princess.

Blaze continued, indicating a crocodile in headphones, currently not paying attention to much else _but _the headphones: "The crocodile is known as Vector. And I'm sure at least one of you remembers Shadow."

"Humph," responded Shadow. "Make sure you understand that I'm only here because I've got a score to settle with those two…"

He pointed directly at Mario and Luigi. Luigi flinched.

"We also have a newcomer…Silver the Hedgehog," continued Blaze. She indicated a hedgehog of pure white, with five spikes sticking straight up out of his head, leaving only two to stick out of the back of his head in a manner similar to Sonic's.

Silver walked up to Mario and shook his hand. "Pleased to have your acquaintance. I've heard a lot about you." He looked slyly at Sonic.

"Shut up, Silver."

Peach suddenly tapped Mario on the shoulder. "Mario! Shouldn't you introduce DK and Bowser Jr.?"

With a slap on his forehead, Mario did.

Then, a large rumble shook the ceiling. Everything went dark. An electric fizz was the only sound heard until Vector shouted in a gruff voice, "Hey! My headphones aren't…working…" He noticed the fizz then.

Suddenly, a large explosion shook the room from the ceiling. Smoke covered everywhere. When the smoke cleared, a solemn figure was lowering from the hole the explosion had created.

Sonic tapped his foot.

"Come on already, Eggman! I know it's you!" said Sonic.

The solemnity of the moment broke instantly. The figure plopped to the ground. "How'd you know it was me?" It said in a high but gravelly voice.

"Because you are the lamest villain I have ever seen!" barked Bowser. It was just like him to try to make other villains lower than he was.

"What?! You would call The Great Dr. Ivo Robotnic _lame_?!" The large man boomed back.

"Are you threatening me, lab rat?"

"I suppose I am!"

"Then can you tell me why exactly I should be afraid of a science nerd who looks like a fat version of Waluigi with a thicker mustache?"

Eggman's face turned the shade of Mario's cap. "_Metal Sonic! You're never around when I need you!_" he roared.

A metallic whine came from the inside of the hole in the ceiling. Then, a robot about as big as Sonic fell through, landing firmly on its feet. In fact, the robot even looked like Sonic. If Mario didn't know better, he'd think it _was _Sonic. Peach was also astonished, to say the least. All those metallic joints seemed to be able to replicate Sonic's exact motions. Those red eyes of Metal Sonic's intimidated her more than anything she wanted to remember. This was obviously the work of a genius, she thought. Metal Sonic was a masterpiece in mad science. And the way the robot stared at real Sonic could only mean something bad.

The robot walked to Master Eggman. He gave an inquiring buzz.

"Show this insolent fool," Eggman said sharply, indicating Bowser, "How intimidating I am!"

"Intimidating, huh?" Bowser said disdainfully. "You are about as intimidating as my _son_!"

Bowser Jr. seemed unsure if that was a compliment or an insult.

Metal Sonic's eyes shone in anger. He gave an electronic growl.

"Yeah, you just better watch your step," Bowser mocked, "cuz' one stomp from me can end your metallic rear!"

At that, Metal Sonic leapt up and activated the booster in his back. He shot forward and head-butted Bowser into the wall.

Luigi looked like he was going to faint. That was _two_ things they'd have to pay for fixing…

Soon, a small figure holding a clipboard pushed his way through the crowd. He was half as tall as Luigi. What he lacked in height, though, he made up for in _hat_. The hat was a large, white, round one with five red polka-dots. He also wore a blue vest, brown shoes, and a white sort of underwear.

It was Toad, one of Mario's smallest buddies, come to be a judge in the Olympics.

"Um, 'scuse me…Pardon me…Hey! Move it, Pushy!...Oh, sorry 'bout that, ma'am…" Toad stammered as he pushed his way through the large crowd of people and creatures shoving to get to their busses on time. Then he saw Mario and Yoshi, Who at this point had settled down in their seats. "Finally!" he shouted in his high, crackly voice. "Somebody I recognize!"

Mario answered by standing up and darting over to the Toad in gleeful recognition.

"Yoshi! Yoshi!" said Yoshi excitedly. "Wow!"

"Hi, guys! Great ta see ya!" Toad said as his friends approached. "You ready for the Olympics?"

"Oh, yeah!" shouted Luigi, who had by now noticed Toad and scrambled over. "Luigi time!"

Whoops. Waluigi heard that.

"You gotta be keeding!" Waluigi retorted. "If it's anybody's time (which it is), It's-a _Waluigi_ time!"

"No way!" Wario shot back. "It's-a _Wario_ time!"

"Waluigi time!"

"Wario time!"

"_Waluigi!_"

"_Wario!_"

"_Waaaaaaaa!_"

Tails looked at the two unusual thieves argue, and got a strange sense of déja vu. "Sonic," he remarked, "They sort of remind me of you and Knuckles."

"We don't argue _all_ the time, do we?" Sonic replied, although as unusual as the pair was, he almost agreed.

"Sorry…" Luigi whispered shyly.

Mario patted his brother on the back. It wasn't Luigi's fault.

"_Anyway,_" said Toad trying to win back attention, and succeeding. "I'm here to do role. All right, so we got Mario, Luigi, and…Yoshi, and Princess Peach, and Daisy, and Donkey Kong… um, Wario and Waluigi are here…and Bowser, and BJ…"

"BJ?!" Bowser growled in Toad's face. "Who the heck is _he?!_"

"Uhh…" Toad shivered. "I j-j-just… I might have thought it would…be a good nickname for your…" he gulped. "son…"

"Bowser Jr. called BJ?!" Bowser roared. "That is the most _ridiculous_ name in the history of nicknames! I'll smash your puny face if I hear you use that name _again!_ Understand?!"

Then Toad remembered his position. This gave him a good retort! It was finally safe for him to talk back to _Bowser!_ "Well," he began regally, "_I_ am an Olympic official! If you smash my face, the Canadian police will have something to say about it!"

Bowser growled, but he couldn't find a retort to the wise guy's big, fat mouth. He crossed his arms. He rolled his eyes away from Eggman.

The science nerd was chuckling at him.

"Okay…and…are you Sonic?" Toad continued. "Yes? All right…and you must be, um, Tails, and you're Knuckles, right? Okay, good. And you're Amy? Oh, you're Blaze…heh, sorry…and _you're_ Amy. All right. And Vector the Croc—oh, you're over there. Shadow's here…and Silver…And Soni—no, I already checked you off…and…wait…"

The 'Sonic' Toad was talking to made a metallic growl.

Toad screamed.

Terrified, the poor Toad sprinted over to Mario and leapt into his lap, dropping his clipboard on the floor. "Mario!" He panted, shivering. "Help meee!"

Eggman threw another smug look at Bowser. "_Now_ who's intimidating? Humph!" he said.

The concerned Princess Peach saw that Toad would not recover from his terror quickly. She walked to the clipboard, picked it up, and marked off the names of Eggman and Metal Sonic. She then walked over to Mario, who was put in a somewhat embarrassing position, and Toad, in order to comfort the latter and rescue the former from embarrassment in front of strangers.

Then Luigi noticed an official-looking Boomerang Bro.—a Koopa armed with a helmet and a boomerang—approaching them. "Yo!" the Boomerang Bro. said enthusiastically. "Which group of you dudes is Team Mario?"

Luigi stood up, indicated the seated group on his side of the room, and said, "Oh yeah!"

"Okay, dudes," The Bro. replied. "Yer bus is here, dogs! If you'd follow me fer a minute, we'll have you on your way to the Openin' Ceremony!"

Mario gave the other team a nod of temporary farewell, and his team followed the Bro. single-file, with Peach carrying Toad, to the bus.

When they were gone, Sonic said, "Well, that was interesting."

"Yeah…" Tails agreed. "But I like the dinosaur."

"Oh, whatever," Amy said grumpily.

"Yeah… well, he's very obedient," said Tails, trying to ignore Amy's comment.

"Hey," Knuckles cut in. "How do you know he's _obedient_?"

"Well…In order to stop you two from fighting…" he indicated Sonic and Knuckles, "he sort of swallowed Sonic…"

"Ewww!" Sonic shouted. "No wonder I smelt dino breath!" Most of the group laughed.

"Anyway," Tails continued, "He kept you in his mouth and walked over to me as if he wanted to ask me what to do with you. I told him to spit you out, and he did. He's a very intelligent creature."

"And the rest of them seem like decent people," observed Blaze the Cat. "Especially that blonde princess, wasn't Peach her name?"

"Yeah, well," stated Vector in an effort to deliberately avoid positivity linked to Team Mario. "I don't know if any of you noticed, that whiny kid of the turtle guy's was shouting 'Daddy, I want one' about everything he laid eyes on!"

"What a brat!" interrupted Eggman scornfully. "I despise that amateur villain and his son!"

Silver opened his mouth to say something, but at that point Eggman shut him up: "No! I refuse to speak to any of you insolent pests!"

"Okay," said Silver, "Then I guess Mario would be one of those 'insolent pests?'"

"No! Of…" Eggman stopped. "Well, maybe…I concede that he _did_ thwart my cheating in the last Olympics. But he hasn't foiled any of my larger plans yet…oh, _why_ am I even discussing this of all things with my enemies?!"

"But he probably _could_ spoil any Eggmanland _you _can think up," Silver pointed out.

"Yeah…" Tails said. "Especially with the help of his brother, even though he does seem a bit cowardly. Almost like…well, me."

"Aw, Tails," protested Sonic. "You're no coward."

Tails grinned. But the grin didn't last long. The truth was that the two teams weren't on the best of terms. The last Olympics in Beijing had almost ended in disaster because of the rivalries formed there. On their team, only he and Blaze seemed willing to let the rivalries go anytime soon.

Soon, another figure entered the bustling scene. It was an apricot-colored Bunny, large as a 12-year-old boy. Her name was Cream, and she was also a judge, similar to the mushroom-creature called Toad. Her pet, a bubble-looking creature called a chao, whose name was Cheese, hovered beside her.

"Cream!" Amy shouted as she ran to greet her friend. "What's up?"

"Oh, nothing much," replied Cream. "Good to see you again, Amy! Your bus just came. Team Sonic, Prepare to board!"

* * *

The flame of the Olympic torch burned crisp and bright. The band of Toads played loud, strong, and glorious. In all of the gigantic stadium everybody, whether creature or human, whether contestant, band member, or audience member, from the smallest chao to the highest ranking Sumo Bro. in Bowser's court, absolutely everybody had only one thought on their mind, that this was it, the beginning of one of the world's most important events, the start of the determination of which team would be the ultimate champions.

The two Teams stood in a straight line in front of the Olympic torch. They stood straight, upright, and proud, never flinching. Wario had on a greedy smile. This, he knew, would mean gold galore, and Wario simply could _not_ resist gold. Waluigi had similar motives, but they, the ultimate partners in crime, would work together to get the gold, and finally live their dream of being rich and wealthy, living in a castle and swimming in pools of gold every day.

The princesses were standing side by side, probably closer together then they should have been standing. They were thinking of how much fun they would undoubtedly have, but, oh, how nervous they were! The entire world would be seeing them compete. Reporters might be quick to find any fault.

Bowser Jr. was standing a tad in front of his father. But he didn't _want_ to just stand there while everyone screamed at them. It was boring! He wanted to go out there and kick some shell! Then he saw one of his buddies, a dead Koopa that Bowser had the power to resurrect in a boney form. These were known as Dry Bones. Bowser Jr. bounced up and down to get the Dry Bones' attention, but Bowser reached out, grabbed Bowser Jr.'s shell, and straightened him. Bowser wanted his son to look his best, not only because he was a dignified prince of the Koopas, but also because Bowser was the dignified king of the Koopas. He didn't want to have his son make him look like an idiot.

DK was completely lost in the emotion of it all. There were people out there—people he didn't even know—who were rooting for him. He would not disappoint them.

Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi were lost in thought. They had learned from experience that Bowser wouldn't give up an event without cheating first. Bowser's traps could be deadly. And Eggman could not be trusted either. They hadn't seen him in action, but they knew he probably would make mischief in these Olympics. Oh, well. Another day, another adventure.

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were standing together. It would be just like the old days, just them versus everybody else. That is, if they had their way. They didn't know what was in store for them, but whatever happened, and even if Knuckles wouldn't openly admit to it, they would always be there to back each other up.

Eggman knew he would win. The last games, he had lost bitterly in losing to rivals. This year would be different. Yes, significantly different. He had his robots. He had his cunning. But the thing that would make this year different was Metal Sonic. All they had to do was to get on the same team.

Metal Sonic had two soul purposes, to obey Master Eggman, and to destroy Sonic. He would not rest until he had done both. He had no clue why Master Eggman had brought him to the games, but he knew it would not please Master Eggman to kill Sonic during the games. This made him a tad upset.

Shadow was a determined animal. No, not an animal. He was the ultimate life form created by Dr. Gerald Robotnic with the power to control chaos. That was why he had come. He had to confront and arise victorious against every challenge he was confronted with. Including certain plumbers. That was his life. His reputation was his life. So he would win every event. He had to.

Silver, Amy, Vector, and Blaze were in all this for the absolute fun of it all. They had a good idea of what would happen over the next two weeks. They would compete, do their best, win some, lose some, and come in with a decent placing. And they would laugh the whole way through. They would, of course, get aggressive if a certain contestant got on their nerves. But not so much that they would cheat. No, cheating was unthinkable.

The Ceremony ended after the Toads finished their band piece. The two teams met outside to be briefed on the hotel rooms would be managed. Toad and Cream were outside waiting for them.

"Okay!" said Toad. "To make a long story short, we've reserved 10 rooms, so that means that we need two people per room."

"So," Cream continued, "we'll need you to choose a buddy that you'd like as a roommate and teammate."

Mario and Luigi gave each other wide grins. "Super Mario Bros.!" they exclaimed in tandem.

"All right, Tails!" Sonic said. "What say we give them a little supersonic action?"

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Tails replied. The two shared a high-five.

"Daisy, you're with me, right?" asked Peach.

"Definitely!" Daisy answered, putting her hand on Peach's shoulder.

That meant bad luck for Yoshi. He had wanted to team up with Peach. In times where he could not team up with the Bros., Peach would have been his next choice. "Boo!" he muttered, frustrated. Then he noticed DK, scratching his head in puzzlement. Yoshi dashed over to him and jumped onto his back, saying "Whoa!" DK gave his apparent companion a smile and a thumbs-up.

Waluigi was pretending to think hard, when he suddenly pointed to Wario and said "Move eeeet!"

"You pick Wario!" The chubby thief replied.

Blaze went up to a pouting Amy. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Sonic said he'd pick _me_ when we were on the plane!" Amy said. "But he picked Tails!"

Blaze sighed. Amy had dubbed herself Sonic's girlfriend ages ago, but she still hadn't gotten over the fact that Sonic just didn't like her the way she liked him. "Well, what if I was to be your partner?" she said.

"Well, Okay!" Amy said. "We won't forgive him this time!"

_Yes_, Blaze thought, _but how many times have you said that before?_

"Metal Sonic!" Eggman screamed. "You're with me!"

That was all he needed to do to win the Olympics? This would be easier than he thought.

The robot uttered a mechanical buzz and dashed over.

"Hey, Junior!" Bowser shouted. "You ready to win some games?"

"Oh, yeah, Daddy! You know I am!" Junior called back, climbing on his Papa's shoulders.

"Gra ha ha ha!" Bowser chortled. "That's the spirit!"

This left four more contestants.

Knuckles looked over his options. Shadow…nope, too cynical. Silver…Okay… Vector…

"Silver, you're with me!" Knuckles instantly called out, grabbing Silver's arm.

All eyes were glued on the two left.

A nervous Vector grabbed for Shadow's head. "Shadow, you're with me!" he shouted.

"Uggh! Get off me!" the unwilling Shadow shouted, shoving Vector off.

Everyone stared at the last two for a little while longer. Then Toad broke the silence.

"All right, everyone! We've all got a buddy. Now let's move to the hotel!"

The bus was waiting outside the stadium. Everyone piled on, keeping their buddies close—except for Shadow, that is, who stood as far away from Vector as was allowable.

The bus ride was magical. Not the bus itself, but the view outside the bus. The crystals that were somehow given the name 'snow' covered everything. Thick, black lines marked the area that the vehicles most frequently traveled on. Bundled figures from everywhere piled into shops and restaurants. Heavy traffic piled from exiting the Opening Ceremony. Most of the other vehicles were probably going to the same Hotel, thought Daisy. That made sense. It was a five-star Hotel they were going to, and people would go there for the luxury, as well as maybe the fact that they'd be sleeping in the same hotel as the main contestants.

The bus pulled up at the Hotel. It had so many windows that it looked like a giant mirror. It was incredibly formal and exquisite.

Everybody followed Toad and Cream inside. The lobby was, Bowser had to admit, very detailed. But it was nothing compared to his castle. The castle was a masterpiece in Hammer Bro. handiwork.

"Okay," said Cream, as Toad went to verify the reserved rooms. "Our first order of business is your Star Tokens. This card-" she held up a silver card with a Power Star on it- "contains all your Star Tokens. You can get more tokens by putting in gold Rings or gold Coins, whichever the case is. You can get things at any store that will accept them, and there just happen to be four that will, to the left of the hotel.

"Next," Cream continued, "are your maps, for basic usage. And-"

"What _jerks!_" shouted Toad, storming back furiously.

"Why?" asked Peach. "What happened?"

"Well, some other guys apparently were able to pay more than us for _five_ of our rooms! At least I was able to haggle them into getting our _coins_ back!" Toad complained.

"Oh, my…" said Cream, thinking as fast as Sonic could sprint. "Um, everyone, it looks like there's been a slight mistake…so we'll have to split into four-person teams now, it seems. Everyone line up with your buddy!"

They did so in record speed.

"One, two, three, four, five…" Cream counted the pairs. "One, two, three, four, and five. All right, now everybody who I counted 'one' for, please step forward."

Mario and Luigi stepped forward. Then Mario froze. "Whoa!"

Sonic and Tails had also stepped forward. Sonic looked about as shocked as Mario did.

"All right…" she said, scribbling something down on a clipboard. "Will you guys follow Toad to your room?"

Mario could scarcely believe what was happening as he and Luigi walked beside the cocky blue hedgehog and left the room.

"All those who I counted 'two,' please step forward," Cream continued.

Peach, Daisy, Amy and Blaze stepped forward. Blaze was actually sort of excited about being teamed up with a person like Peach. Amy, however, was shocked. "_WHAT?!_ Her? But-but-but-but-but-but-but…" The four girls walked to Cream.

"The rest of you, please remember your number. I'll take team 2 to their room," said Cream. The five then exited the room, with Amy still blubbering.

"Well," said Bowser, "I don't answer to the word 'please.'"

Then Junior blurted out, "Five! Five! Five! Five!"

Bowser groaned.

Then Toad returned to the lobby. "Threes!" he said. Yoshi, DK, Knuckles, and Silver stepped forward.

Yoshi gave a "Yoshi!" of greeting.

They exited the room.

"I'm-a gonna get a big pile of medals and garlic!" said Wario. "And all da girls are gonna love my muscles!"

"Someone besides Bowser obviously has delusions of grandeur," Eggman remarked.

"Hey!" Wario and Bowser both shouted out at the same time.

Cream then returned. "Fours!" she called out.

Wario's jaw went slack as he spotted Shadow and Vector step forward. "Hey!" he repeated. "What's-a da beeg deal, pairin' da Great Wario with stupids like them?!"

"You'd better watch yourself," Shadow muttered under his breath.

"You guys come with me," said Cream. Wario, Waluigi, Shadow, and Vector left the room.

Then Bowser's jaw went slack. "Gra-"

"What, daddy, what?" Bowser Jr. said. "Are we going with the cool robot? Are we? Huh? Huh?"

"Err…Yes, we are," Bowser said, knowing there were no other options. "And the robot is _not _cool."

"Personally, I appreciate your son's taste," Eggman said smugly. "I suppose he would like to know…"

"No, he would not!" Bowser shouted at the fat nerd.

Toad entered again. "All right, baddies," he said, "let's move it to your room."

* * *

Mario stared out into space. He looked out at the dusk, and wondered how he was going to make this work. He somehow had the good fortune of having Peach's room right next to his own. But Sonic was his problem. He knew that their contention in the last Olympics had _probably_ created bad feelings between them. He now regretted that. But he also knew that teamwork counted more than anything else in the world, especially concerning sports. If they were to win this go-around, they would have to set aside their differences. Mario smiled. He knew that if you could set aside differences just for a bit, you could do it forever. He could just imagine all the adventures he and Sonic could go on as friends. He could even imagine Sonic participating in Mario Kart races…

But that wasn't the point. Sonic had the opportunity to experience teamwork with Tails, and he would have the experience with Mario. If he could only make Sonic see that…wait! That gave him a good—great—_fantastic_ idea for a team name! He couldn't wait to tell the others! He walked off the balcony and into the main room.

Luigi was unpacking his gear. "Okay, so we got-a de extra outfit, my toothpaste, my toothbrush, my lucky tooth, and-a my spare boots, and…uh…oh, no…"

Luigi smacked himself on the forehead. "Aww, Mama Mia!" Luigi exclaimed.

Mario asked Luigi what was wrong.

"I'm-a forgot-a my mustache wax again!" Luigi said, obviously upset with himself.

Mario told Luigi that he could use Mario's mustache wax.

Meanwhile, Sonic and Tails were in the bedroom. "I can't believe that Cream would pair us up with someone who she knows I don't like too much!" Sonic said as he threw a pair of socks in a drawer.

"Sonic, relax," said Tails, placing a spare pair of shoes in the closet. "She probably picked the numbers randomly. Besides, would you rather have been paired up with Eggman?"

Sonic sighed. He knew they wouldn't last a minute in the games teamed up with Eggman. Eggman would never cooperate with anyone who had thwarted his plans, unless it was in his best interest. Which, in this case, only Metal Sonic would suffice.

"But what about a team name?" Sonic asked. "Come up with one yet?"

"Not yet…" answered Tails. "Maybe we should call in Mario and Luigi and see if they have any ideas."

"…All right," Sonic said, a tad glumly.

Tails smiled, left the room, and shortly returned with the Bros.

"Hi," said Luigi to Sonic.

Sonic did not reply.

"Thanks, you two," said Tails. "We need to put together a team name. We wanted to ask your opinion."

"OK!" said Luigi enthusiastically. "I do it!"

Mario nodded, a smile growing on his face. Wait 'till he told them about his idea…

"For starters," said Sonic, "how about the classic and super-cool name of Team Sonic?"

The other three stared at him. "Sonic," Tails scolded. "You know that there's already a Team Sonic: Knuckles, you, and me. Besides…"

"I was only joking."

Tails seemed skeptical, but he continued. "All right…what about Team Heroes?"

"Aahhh…no," commented Luigi.

"Weegee's right, Tails; seems a little bland. Maybe something like '_The_ Heroes?'" suggested Sonic.

"Doesn't seem quite right…maybe for the same reasons."

Mario was excitedly waving his hand.

Sonic looked at Mario, a bit annoyed. "Yeah, can it wait?"

Mario released a deep sigh.

Luigi whispered something to Tails.

"Hey! Luigi may be on to something. He suggests the 'Supersonic Mario Bros.' How 'bout it?"

"Nah," said Sonic with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Too much Mario."

Mario was hopping around for attention.

"Yeah, just a sec," Sonic said, not really caring. "How about 'Team Super?'"

"Sonic," Tails urged. "If Mario has a suggestion, shouldn't we let him talk?"

Mario looked like he was going to burst if he didn't give his idea soon. And the way that Luigi and Tails were looking at him…

Trapped, Sonic said "All right."

Mario's idea burst forth.

Tails looked confused. "What?"

Mario repeated his idea.

Sonic looked a little impressed. "'The Shooting Stars,' huh?"

"It's actually pretty good," said Tails. "'Shooting' for us two, and 'Stars' for them. Besides, when you make a wish on a group like us, it'll almost always come true!"

_Knock knock knock._

"I got it!" said Luigi. He leaped up and went to answer the door. The others followed at a distance.

It was Toad. "Hey, Luigi! Just checking on progress for a team name. Got one yet?"

"Actually, we do have an idea," remarked Tails. Then he turned to Sonic. "Should we use it?"

Sonic nodded, but he didn't look particularly happy about the identity of the name's creator.

"All right," Tails responded. "It's 'The Shooting Stars!'"

"Ok…" affirmed Toad, scribbling the name on his clipboard. "Well, that'll be all you'll need to do today. See you guys tomorrow! And good luck in the games!"

Toad shut the door.

"'Shooting Stars'…" Sonic repeated to himself. The more he thought about it, the better a name it sounded.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

* * *

Toad briskly skipped over to the room to his very left, then knocked.

"Rose!" he heard.

"Daisy!"

"Rose!"

"Daisy!"

Finally, Peach answered the door. "Hello, Toad," she said in that mellifluous voice of hers, albeit under slight strain.

"Hey, Princess. Just checking up on how the team name is going."

"Oh…" the princess said, a little embarrassed. "About that…"

Blaze was seated on a couch a little further in the room. "We're sorry, Toad," she said, " but Amy and Daisy are…"

"Rose!"

"Daisy!"

"…being a bit stubborn."

"And you tried reasoning with them and everything?" Toad asked.

"Yes…" said Peach. "It appears that they're beyond little things like compromise now."

"Then I guess you'll have to figure out their team name without them!" Toad had a playful twinkle in his eye.

"Toad! That would be rude!"

"I agree," said Blaze. "But under these circumstances, it may be our only working option."

Peach sighed. "All right. We'll try to think of something until you come back."

* * *

"Pleased to meet you both," Silver said. In the room directly above that of Mario and Sonic's, the new, rather haphazard team of gorilla, echidna, dinosaur, and hedgehog had become acquainted with one another rather well. Addressing mainly Yoshi and Knuckles, Silver continued: "So, is it true that Mario actually beat Sonic in a footrace?"

"Yes, for the hundredth time. You act like it's some kind of natural disaster. So what Mario beat Sonic—I was topped by a girl!"

Silver looked incredulously at Yoshi, who nodded in a sense that immediately brought to mind the phrase: 'You better believe it!'

During this time, DK stood in the kitchen, gulping down banana after banana.

"Well, you guys," commented Silver. "If we're going to be a team, it would seem like we need to figure out what our strengths and weaknesses are. I mean, like, between teams."

"Point," said Knuckles. "Let's show Yoshi what we can do."

Knuckles turned to Yoshi. "I'm tough as nails, I can glide, and I can scale walls no problem!"

"Wow!" replied Yoshi.

"As for me," interjected Silver, "my abilities might require…a demonstration."

Yoshi looked puzzled.

Silver concentrated. He could see Yoshi lifting off the ground.

"Waa!" Yoshi yelped as he found himself floating off the ground in a green aura. He wagged his arms and legs and tail in an effort to free himself from this unseen force.

Silver, using his telekinetic powers, lowered Yoshi to the ground. Upon reaching the ground, Yoshi looked at Silver in awe and made a noise that sounded like a cheer.

"All-righty," said Knuckles to Yoshi. "You've seen us. Now what about you?"

Yoshi made a grin, then stuck out his tongue and snagged a banana that DK was about to inhale.

"You have a long, sticky tongue, perfect for snagging…"

Yoshi stuck out his tongue and swallowed DK whole. A second later, an egg popped out of Yoshi's rear and cracked. Out popped a disoriented DK.

"You can swallow enemies and turn them into eggs…"

Then, Yoshi bounced up into the air and hovered there, kicking his legs rapidly.

"You can hover momentarily in midair…"

Yoshi pulled a few air-punches and whipped out a quick Ground Pound.

"…And you're tough for your looks. All in one package! Sweet."

"Wait," said Knuckles. "You never used any of that stuff during the last Olympics!"

"Well, wouldn't that have been cheating?"

"Shut up, Silver. Anyway, DK's a newcomer. What about him?"

A glance at him exhibited his muscular prowess.

"Obvious," Silver and Knuckles said simultaneously.

They gazed at DK a bit further before returning to discussion.

"So… team name?" suggested Silver.

"With this kind of a wacko team?"

"'Team Wild!' You just gave me the perfect name!"

Knuckles shrugged. It _was_ a cool name. "Yoshi?"

"Yoshi!"

"Should I take that as a yes…?"

"Yoshi!"

_Knock knock knock._

"Who is it?" shouted Knuckles.

"It's Toad!"

"Oh, okay."

Knuckles ran to the door and opened it.

"Guys", said Toad with a smile. "I came to check on how your team name is going."

Yoshi scrambled over. "Yoshi, Yoshi!"

"Oh, Team Wild. Who came up with that?"

"Yoshi! Yoshi Yoshi."

"That makes sense. They look like the people who would think about things most in this group. Well, that's the only thing I need from you guys. Good luck at the games! And Silver, Knuckles; cool name! See ya!"

Toad closed the door.

Silver and Knuckles looked at each other in disbelief, wondering how you could get that out of a few "Yoshis".

* * *

Shadow the Hedgehog stood on the balcony of his room on the top floor of the hotel. His hands were firmly gripped on the railing, and he had on a fierce, wolf-like grimace. He was on his balcony, however, for a very different reason that Mario had been on his. Was he disappointed? You could say that. But furious describes half of the intensity of his emotions at that moment. When had Vector been appointed as his teammate, it had the same general effect of tying a cannonball to his leg. When the two idiots Wario and Waluigi were added to the 'team', Shadow felt that they might as well have dressed him in a suit of armor—without removing the cannonball—thrown him in the Pacific, and told him to swim back to shore.

"Shadow!" called the annoying voice of Vector. Shadow sighed. Now what?

"What?" Shadow shouted back without turning around.

"Want to pick out a team name with us?"

"No."

"Oh… Ok. I just thought you might want to have a say in the team name before we accidently pick something really dumb…"

"All right."

Growling, Shadow twisted around and walked inside. Vector was sitting on an easy chair, while Fatso and Skinny were reclining on the sofa, arguing over remote privileges. Shadow gazed around the room. Well furnished, he reflected, but not that large. It gave him a sense of claustrophobia. Or was it the two goons currently irritating him? Him! The ultimate life form! How dare they…

"All right, you three. Let's fish out a name."

"Peh!" Wario commented disdainfully. "Dat's easy! We're-a name it…" He paused for drama. Then, springing up from the sofa and signing "W" with both his hands, he shouted, "…Team WARIO!"

"Waaahh…" Waluigi sighed in response, taking the opportunity to swipe the remote controller from the armrest on Wario's side of the couch. "You're-a always 'tinkin' o' yourself, eh? Always Wario, Wario, Wario wit' you, eh? Well, you gotta de right idea, but it _should_ be all Waluigi, Waluigi, Waluigi. Team Waluigi's a _way_ cooler name."

Wario growled at his beanpole partner. "You take that back, ya little—"

"SHUT UP."

Wario and Waluigi turned to a thoroughly peeved Shadow. "Waaa?"

"I said SHUT UP. I've had enough of your worthless bickering."

Waluigi felt sweat drip down his forehead and resolved to watch his trap. Wario, on the other hand…

"Hey! Who d'ya think you're talking to, Buster?!"

"An ugly, smelly imbecile that can't tell his right from his left."

Wario's face grew pink. "Oh yeah? You wanna go, Buster?"

"It'll be my pleasure—"

"All right, you guys!" Vector tried to intervene. Instead, he received two irked faces thrust in his own. It was Vector's turn to start sweating as he threw his hands to his face. "Uh…well, I just figgered that maybe—y'know, _maybe_—we oughta get back to making a team name…?"

Shadow and Wario both crossed their arms, glared at each other for a few seconds more, then presumed that Vector had a point. Wario returned to his spot, but not before swiping the remote from Waluigi.

"OK…Phew," Vector sighed. "Back to the drawing board. Uh…so, Wario, Waluigi. Why are you guys here? What do you really want to get by coming to the Games?"

Wario and Waluigi exchanged a greedy glance before sending out a string of answers.

"Victory!"

"Cash!"

"Gems!"

"Fame!"

"Fourtune!"

"The title of Superstar!"

"GOLD!"

Vector had heard all he'd needed to. "And we all know why Shadow's here—he wants to beat every other team's socks off! So how about…_Team Gold_?"

That was enough to excite Wario and Waluigi. "Yeeeeeaaaaaahhhhh!" they both shouted.

They all looked at Shadow.

"Y'know…" Vector offered. "As in Gold Medal…?"

Shadow sighed. "All right. I suppose it's decent. But I'll say this…when the games come around, you'd _better stay out of my way. _I didn't ask to be put on any team. Got it?"

They all nodded.

"Good."

_Knock knock knock._

"Got it!" said Vector hastily in an attempt to get out of the now-tense situation. He sprinted for the door.

It was Toad.

"Hey there," said Vector, wiping sweat from his brow.

"Hi!" replied Toad. "How's the atomic gas bomb doing back there?"

"Eh. Good as ever. But I've got to say…he's not doing well with Shadow. Putting it simply, they hate each other."

"As I figured. Wario's not the friendly type. I don't like him very much myself. So…any luck on a team name?"

"Actually, yeah! Just figgered one out, too."

"Wow! Even with Wario?"

"Even with _Shadow_. Put us down as Team Gold!"

"Ha!" Toad chuckled to himself, muttering to himself about Wario and Waluigi. "That's a fitting name for half your team! Anyway, it's nice! See ya! And good luck in the games!"

"You, too! Aw, wait…"

The two chuckled to themselves before bidding one another farewell once again.

* * *

Toad took the elevator down to the bottom floor. It was time to discover what the team of villains would name themselves. It was a scary thought. Being down there with two evil bad guys was enough to make him shudder. He looked down at his clipboard. 'Shooting Stars,' 'Team Wild,' 'Team Gold'… the contestants had highly creative names. He wondered if the team of villains would be any different.

Toad stepped in front of the villain's door, hesitated, then knocked.

Eggman answered the door. "What do _you _want?" he said grimly.

"U-u-uh…" Toad stammered. "I-I'm just here for a…t-team name?"

"Of course! We're the 'Brilliantly, Awfully Diabolical Group of Undefeated Young Souls!'"

"Grr!" Bowser responded. "Where did you get _that_ name?! We're the 'Bodaciously Awesome and Destructive Gang for Usurpers of Yesterday's Superheroes'!"

"Auggh! No way! That's an awful name! I won't tolerate it!"

"Uh…" said a befuddled Toad. "…I'll come back later." Toad shut the door.

Actually, he didn't plan to. Instead, he wrote the acronym B.A.D.G.U.Y.S. on his clipboard.

* * *

Toad sighed to himself in relief. No fatalities…this time. Toad was glad to now be off the bottom floor. He was on an elevator now, heading up to the fifth floor. Now all he had to do was run once more by the Princess' room to pick up their team name…assuming Amy and Daisy could be calmed enough to listen up.

* * *

"Team _Butterfly?!_" Daisy shouted, incredulous. "That isn't a good mascot! I mean, all butterflies _do_ is flutter around and act pretty!"

"Which is why," responded Blaze, "butterflies still exist. You understand, butterflies have mastered the art of camouflage. The amazing colors you see on butterfly wings are actually used to blend into their surroundings. Also, the beautiful orange color on the monarch butterfly warns other animals not to eat it."

"Why?" asked Amy.

"Because monarch butterflies are poisonous."

"Oh," replied Amy. She'd had no idea, but she didn't say so.

"Our team name will serve the function of a butterfly wing: a camouflage."

"So someone like Wario will be all like, 'Oh, Team Butterfly, they're just lame,' and then we jump out and surprise them!" Daisy reasoned.

"Exactly."

"So…" Peach said cautiously. "Are we all in agreement?"

"Yeah!"

"I'm game!"

"Let's do it!"

_Knock knock knock._

"I'll get it," said Peach.

As she expected, it was Toad. "Hey, there, Princess!" Toad said. "I'm just here for a follow-up for a team name."

"And well timed, Toad. We just figured one out. We're Team Butterfly!"

"Heh. Butterfly, huh?" said Toad. "All right, if you feel it best, princess." He wrote down the…rather _girly_ team name on his clipboard. "Thanks, Princess! Good luck in the games."

"Thanks, Toad!" said the princess as she shut the door.

_Butterfly!_ Of all the mascots…

* * *

As the athletes, both hero and villain, settled down for the night, none could imagine the adventure they would soon find themselves in. For, of course, there are no vacations or competitions for the two main heroes. Not without some kind of adventure tied in with it. The villains would make sure of that.

But nobody, not even the villains, could know it yet.


	2. The Training Begins

***UNFINISHED CHAPTER!***

Please be patient as an update may be a while in the making.

Chapter 2: The Training Begins

Tails opened his eyes carefully. He had no intention of ruining the peace that he'd felt during his quiet night's rest. As his eyes focused, he saw a beautiful orange-red sunbeam breaking through the window. He carefully turned around to his handheld device and checked the time. 5:30 a.m. Huh, he'd woken up earlier than he would have thought. Then again, they did retire at around 7:00 last night, so they'd got a good ten hours of sleep for the upcoming events. As far as he knew, the first event would be held at nine o'clock this morning. His fox ears slowly sprung to life. The first thing he heard? Sonic snoring next to him. _A wonder,_ Tails joked to himself, _that I had no trouble falling asleep. _

Then…

"Ah…Spaghetti…" A snore. "Ah, Ravioli…"

What the—?

"Ah…Mama Mia…" Another snore.

_Oh,_ Tails realized. Mario must have still been asleep.

Then he heard…humming?

It was a cheerful humming, as if someone had been walking carelessly in a sunny field. And it had a small touch of Italian accent.

Luigi was up? Wow. Must be habit.

Slowly, Tails got up from the bed and walked into the living room, where he did indeed see Luigi working on bacon and eggs, humming softly to himself as he set about his task.

"Hey, Luigi."

"WAA!" yelped a startled Luigi as he jumped a foot in the air.

"Oh…Sorry," said Tails bashfully as they tried to regain composure. Luigi rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"So…do you normally wake up this early?"

"Oh!" Luigi replied, saying that he only did on occasions such as this—the beginning of the events! Looking around, Tails noticed that the breakfast was larger than it seemed. Enough for eight people to have at least two servings each.

"Wow! Why so much?" Tails asked.

Again scratching the back of his head, Luigi told Tails that he had invited company over for breakfast…namely, the team in the room next to them.

"Huh? Waa!" said a new voice. It was Mario's. His hair and mustache looked a mess, and he was sitting up in bed in his nightshirt and nightcap. In _no _condition for company. Slightly horrified, Mario leapt up, grabbed some clothes from a drawer, and sprinted into the bathroom. Shower spray was soon heard. "La-la-la, hm-hm-hmmm!"

Tails and Luigi laughed. "Is he always that way?" asked Tails.

No, Luigi replied, only around situations involving Peach.

"Oh! I get it!" They laughed some more.

For five more minutes, they helped one another cook a bit more food—mostly just toast, but it was still pleasant. Then they heard a loud chime at around 5:45. It might have sounded to us like the title theme for the original _Sonic the Hedgehog_ game. They also heard groaning and thudding before the music abruptly stopped.

"Ah…" explained Tails, "That's my alarm. Sonic should be up in a moment."

And indeed he was. Sonic, still rubbing his eyes and moving unnaturally slow, entered the kitchen/living room a few minutes later. "Hi, you two," he said groggily. "Where's—"

"La-da-da-da, la-hm-hm-hm-hmm…"

"Shower?"

"Yup."

"Ugh…slept like a rock last night."

"I know. But today's the day! And we're having company over."

"Ugh…Don't tell me…"

"Oh, yeah. Amy _will_ be there, won't she?"

Luigi didn't really see an issue with this, so he was a bit befuddled. Wasn't Amy like Mario's Peach? The Princess that always needed rescuing?

"Not exactly," Tails explained. "Don't tell Amy I said this, but she kind of…adopted Sonic—"

"Abducted," Sonic corrected.

"Yeah…_abducted_ Sonic as her boyfriend after the first time he rescued her."

"She hasn't let me go since. So annoying…" Sonic finished.

"Wow," input Luigi.

The shower water stopped. Sonic, Tails, and Luigi began to set the table. They made quick work of it and were done before the hour struck. By that time, Sonic was back up to full speed.

At exactly 6:00, the door knocked. Sure enough, with Amy at their head, there were the girls.

"Hi!" said Amy. "Is Sonic here?"

"Oh, yeah."

"What? Tails, why didn't you answer it? Oh, never mind…"

Sonic had assumed that Tails would have said 'No. He went out on a run. You'll have to come back later. 'Bye.' Oh well.

"Oh, _Sooooniiiic!_" Amy crooned.

Oh, boy.

"Hello, Luigi," said Peach as Luigi let the other girls in. Once they were all seated, Peach asked the obvious question.

"Where's Mario?"

Just then, Mario entered the room, wearing all of his normal garb but his trademark cap. He went and got that from the coat rack at the back of the door and put it on before sitting at the table in the available spot between Peach and Luigi. Next to Luigi sat Daisy, who sat next to Blaze. Amy had insisted on sitting next to Sonic, but Sonic (who felt like Amy was sitting on _top_ of him rather than next to him) found small relief in sitting next to Tails as well.

"So, how'd you guys sleep last night?" Tails asked as they started to eat.

"Oh, like a dream, Tails! Thank you for asking," responded Peach as she bit into a forkful of eggs. "Mmmm. These eggs are delicious! Who made them?"

"Credit goes to Luigi. He made almost all of it."

"Aw! Thank you, Luigi!" replied the princess.

"See? That's why I like the big pushover!" Daisy said, leaning her elbow on Luigi's shoulder. Luigi blushed and scratched the back of his neck with his free hand.

"So, _Sonic,_" eased in Amy. "What did _you_ guys name your team?" Sonic looked frantically at Tails for help as Amy inched closer.

"Glad you asked, Amy. We're the Shooting Stars!" said Tails.

"Oh. That sounds wonderful. I bet _you_ thought it all up, Sonic!" sang Amy.

Sonic looked a bit resentful at that comment, Tails noted, and he thought he saw Sonic take a sour glance at Mario, who looked at Amy with a raised eyebrow.

"Actually, Amy, it was…" Tails tried to explain.

"I knew it!" interrupted Amy. "Sonic, you're a _genius._"

Tails cleared his throat. "Anyway, what did you name _your_ team?"

"We call ourselves Team Butterfly," responded Blaze.

Sonic snickered.

"What?"

"Team _Butterfly?!" _Sonic finally blurted out. "That is just… _wow! _I don't think you're ever going to live that one down!"

That's when Amy grabbed his arm. "If I hear one more word out of you, Sonic the Hedgehog, I'll…"

"That's enough," Blaze coaxed. "Not at the table."

Amy was still fuming, but she relaxed after a bit.

Tails decided to change the subject again, on a topic he had been a bit interested in since Luigi had implied it earlier.

"So…" he addressed Peach. "What's the story with you and Mario?"

"Oh…It's been so long since…Mario! How long ago _was _the first time you rescued me? Seven…eight years ago…?"

Mario answered promptly. It had been nine years, three months, and sixteen days ago.

"Oh, Mario!" Peach exclaimed. "You're so sweet."

Mario visibly blushed.

"Anyway, that was the first time he rescued me from Bowser's clutches. His plan was to take over the Mushroom Kingdom by using dark magic to turn all of the precious Toads into gold coins. And the only one with the good magic to stop it…was me."

"Of course," Blaze reasoned. "The obvious choice would be to kidnap you."

"Yes," Peach responded. "And he did. He kidnapped me and my seven Toad Retainers."

Luigi muttered something. Tails couldn't quite make it out, but he thought it had something to do with a princess being in another castle.

"That's when Mario and Luigi first came to my aid. They both came and they defeated Bowser—and his seven clones—and then rescued me."

Mario muttered something about keeping an axe _that_ close to a rope bridge.

"Heh…reminds me of _my_ first adventure_,_" mused Sonic.

"It actually hasn't been that long since I first met Egghead himself. I had to rush around the world and grab the seven Chaos Emeralds and snatch em' out of Eggman's grasp before he turned the world into…wait for it…_Eggmanland._ Really. The dude's nuts!"

Luigi nodded agreement, barely holding back a snicker.

"Anyway, after I got all the Emeralds, he stayed quiet for a while. Then he came back. With a vengeance. I had to go and repeat the process all over again, but this time, I had help. That's when I met Tails."

Tails chuckled.

_Knock knock knock._

Mario sprung up from the table to answer the door. He was expecting Toad. He found Toad, but Cream was with him.

"Hello, Mr. Mario," said Cream. "We're kind of supposed to be the wake-up call, but…" She peered behind Mario. "It looks like you have everything figured out."

"Hi, Cream!"

"Hello!"

"Oh! Hi!"

"Hey, Cream."

"Hi, Toad!"

"Yah-ho!"

Toad and Cream smiled at the pleasant and energetic response from the..._two_ teams. "Well," he said, "We have an exciting schedule for you guys today. Today, we have two Training sessions."

"Training sessions?" input Sonic. "We need to be _trained_?"

"Well…" Cream replied. "Some of you. Besides, the better you perform during your training, the more points you'll receive."

"Points?" Tails inquired. "We're sorry, but we're not quite sure how this whole thing works. What about medals?"

"Oh, no prob," said Toad. "It's simple. No matter what you participate in, you'll get points for it. The team with the highest number of points at the end of the whole thing will be named the Overall Champion. Of course, you'll get medals for actual events as well, and everyone on your team will get one…if you get one."

"Only the top three teams get medals in actual events. Everyone gets the chance to win points based on their own individual performances in Training," finished Cream.

"Oh," Sonic said. "Freebie points."

"Well, not if you fail training," Toad corrected.

Most of the Shooting Stars gaped at Toad. "You can _fail_ training?" Tails gaped.

"Yeah. Think of it as a minigame," Toad said.

"Oh."

"Today," Toad continued, "We've got Training for Alpine Downhill Skiing at 8:30 this morning and the Bobsleigh event at 2:00 in the afternoon."

"Meh," Sonic said. "Skiing'll probably be easy. Bobsleigh, though, I might need help on."

Tails sighed. Typical Sonic.

"That's what the training is for," said Cream. "To make sure you've got the hang of events before the real thing. Nobody likes being at a disadvantage due to lack of knowledge."

"Well said, Cream!" remarked Toad.

"Thank you, Mr. Toad," said Cream meekly. "Mommy taught me two of those words a week ago, and I still remember them!"

_Wow,_ mused Sonic. Sometimes it was easy to forget that Cream was still just six years old.

"Thank you very much for the update, you guys!" said Peach. "We'll see you later!"

"Just remember, your bus leaves at 8:30!" said Toad. "'Bye!"

Toad and Cream exited the room, leaving Team Butterfly and the Shooting Stars to finish breakfast.

* * *

_CRASH! _

Knuckles snapped awake. What was _that?!_

_CRUNCH! DING! _

"Ook! Ook Oooohh?"

Donkey Kong?! What had gotten into him?

_TINK! CCHHHH!_

Holding his head wearily, Knuckles got up from his bed and turned his head left. His eyes met disaster.

There, standing in the kitchen, was the Gorilla, rummaging through the silverware and throwing it over his shoulder as if it were trash. The floor was plastered with broken glass plates, cups, and bowls.

"HEY!" He shouted in horror. "What are you _doing?!_"

DK, upon seeing him, brightened and rumbled noisily over to him, looking at him excitedly and pounding the floor with his fists so hard that Knuckles was afraid the floor would crack.

"Hey…hey. Glad you're happy that I'm up. Now what is this mess for?"

"Ooh ooh OOO aah ook ook hawoo!"

"Sorry, big guy, I have no clue how to help you."

Just then, a cheerful Yoshi appeared from the balcony. "Yo Yoshi. Yoshi Yoshi Yoshi, Yo-Yoshi Yoshi Yoshi. Yo-Yo!"

"What?" said Knuckles, exasperated.

Yoshi sighed and walked over to the counter, where he found a pad of Post-It notes. He scribbled down a message and handed it to Knuckles.

"You can write?"

Yoshi indicated the note.

"'DK is hungry and wants some bananas, but can't find them,'" Knuckles read. "Man, I wish there was an easier way to understand you."

Yoshi took another pad and wrote another note. Knuckles took it and read it. "Mario can understand you? Huh. He's _got_ to teach me sometime!"

"Yo-Yoshi!"

"Uh…"

Yoshi wrote another note.

"Oh. Good idea. I'll ask him then. Before that, though, we have this mess to take—oh, hi, Silver."

A groggy Silver had just entered the room and was staring at the glass mess on the floor. "What happened _here?_" Silver inquired.

"DK was looking for some bananas," said Knuckles, as if that cleared up everything. "Now, you have telekinesis, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, would you mind…"

"It doesn't work well in the mornings," Silver fibbed.

Knuckles crossed his arms. "Could've fooled me."

"Aw," Silver sighed. "All right." _So close…_

With a loud "Ha!" of effort, Silver concentrated. The shards of glass, encased in a turquoise aura, flew into the air and landed calmly in the trash as DK looked on, clapping his massive hands in glee.

"Thanks!" said Knuckles. "Think you could make my bed too?"

"Forget it."

"Aw. Worth a shot."

Yoshi made that little laughing noise again.

"Oh, and DK, here are the bananas." Knuckles walked over to the 'fridge and pulled out a big bunch of bananas.

"Ooo OOK!" The Gorilla celebrated. He then proceeded to expertly peel and calmly eat the bananas, one by one.

"He chucks plates on the ground and then has the sense to peel the bananas? Wow," Silver said.

"I don't question it," replied Knuckles. "I do things like that all the time. But just in case, I say we put a bunch of bananas on the counter every morning."

"Agreed."

"So," Knuckles continued, "What's everyone else want for breakfast?"

"I'll take a fried egg, a slice of toast, and some OJ," Silver said.

"OK. Good luck with that."

That being said, Knuckles and Yoshi began to empty the refrigerator of fruit, paying Silver no heed.

That is, until Knuckles started hanging in midair by his feet. Knuckles started flailing, but then he saw Silver and realized what was going on.

"OK, OK," said Knuckles, letting his arms fall slack. "I'll make you breakfast. Just put me down and don't expect it to be any good."

Knuckles abruptly plummeted to the ground.

"Ow."

He was just burning the toast when the door knocked. Yoshi answered it.

It was Toad and Cream. When DK saw Toad, he rushed over and gave the little guy a big hug, causing surprised gasps from everyone and a big "WAA-AA-AA!" from Toad. When Toad was finally set down, he was so squished and out of breath that he fell dizzily to the ground.

Donkey Kong had no clue what to think. Knuckles, Silver, and Yoshi exchanged worried glances. "Hey, uh, big guy… do you think you could be a bit… y'know… softer with your hugs?" Said Knuckles cautiously.

DK seemed bashful. "Ook ook. Ooo," he muttered in sincere apology.

Knuckles then proceeded to pick up Toad by the foot. "Hey!" he shouted. "You alive in there?"

Toad slowly woke up. "Uggh… AHH! Whyamiupsidedown?!"

"Hey, sorry, lil' guy," Knuckles said, putting him down. "Now what's the visit for?"

"Uhh…" Cream stammered, a bit unsure of what had just happened. "We… were just here to check on you guys."

"Oh," said Knuckles. "We're good. Anything else?"

"Also, we have Training for Alpine Downhill Skiing and Bobsleigh events scheduled for today," replied Cream.

"Wait, _training_?" exclaimed Silver. "_What_ training?"

Toad, having recovered from his frightening turn of events, was able to explain what the training was for, as well as the point system.

"All right. I get it now," said Silver.

"You did?" said Knuckles. "Good. Then explain it to me on the way. 'Cause I didn't get any of that."

"Were you _listening_?"

"Shut up, Silver."

Toad, Cream and Yoshi burst out laughing.

"All right," said Toad between snickers. "We'll see you later!" The door closed.

"OK, you guys," said Knuckles now that his team was all gathered. "This is it. The events are starting. And we're gonna do our best out there and win as a _team_!"

The team cheered in response.

Knuckles, Silver and Yoshi had no idea they were all thinking the same excited thought.

_Pumped up at _seven_!? Today is going to be a great day!_

* * *

"_WAAAAAHHHH…_" Wario sighed as he woke up on the couch/bed. How come _they'd_ got the couch anyhow?! Was it because that weird, berserk porcupine thingy had said so? He tried to remember the events of yesterday. At bedtime, he'd stormed into the bedroom without a word, not giving the others a second look.

The moron.

He should have known that the Great Wario was the leader of the team. Should have known who the best of the best was. As he thought about it, the idiot hadn't even _recognized_ Wario!

"Waaa… stupid hedgehog…" Wario muttered as he rolled over.

Right on top of Waluigi.

"GAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

"Whoa!" shouted Vector, springing up from his spot curled up comfortably on the floor.

"AAGGHHHHH! Get off me, ya stupid!" shouted Waluigi.

"Take dat back, lousy scum!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hang on! Hang on!" Vector tried. "You'll be waking up the neighbors!"

"Hey!" Wario retorted. "It's not like _you're_ doin' no better, scale-face!"

"Hey, no need to get angry!"

"'Course 'dere is!" Wario let off an intentional fart. Then, he walked over to the front door and opened it. "Have a rotten day!"

_SLAM._

"Waa, dat stupid Wario," muttered Waluigi.

"Uhh… that went smoothly. What a way to wake up," Vector sighed.

"Hah! It gets better."

"Aw. I was hoping for some time to relax from all his drama."

"Nyehh.." Waluigi sighed. "Wario's like dat. No worries—leave it to me."

"Hey, thanks. I appreciate it."

"Yeah, well. Where's your hoggy-friend?"

"Who, Shadow? Oh, he's probably out for a run or something, maybe terrorizing tourists, doin' his 'THIS IS WHO I AM' bit."

"So you dunno."

"Well, yeah."

Waluigi sighed. This guy would need some training. "I guess the least we can do," he said after a pause, "Is to figure out some kinda plan to stop from wipin' eachodder from offa de face o' de planet."

"Good idea."

Waluigi flopped down on the couch. "Well, den, I guess you bedder start 'tinkin'."

"What? You aren't gonna help out or anything?" Vector responded, dumbfounded.

"Hey, Bub. I don't do strategisms. Or plannin'. I'm only just tricky."

"Well, okay, then."

Vector considered. If Wario were any less annoying, it would be a snap. But with their mountain-sized egos, it seemed impossible to morph them into anything like friends. He needed something… a common interest, a common goal. Besides victory, of course—that couldn't hold up for the short time they'd been a team, anyway. "Hey, Waluigi?" he finally said.

"Yeah?"

"What do you think that you might have in common with Shadow? As far as goals go, I mean?"

Waluigi thought for a bit. "I got no idea. I just wanna get lots o' treasure after beatn' up ol' Weegee an' makin' 'im cry like a little baby."

"Luigi, huh?" Vector responded. "Shadow still seems to have a bone to pick with him, too."

"Well," input Waluigi, "he's gotta right idea. An'—" He paused. "Heeeeey! That might be IT!"

"Might be _what?_"

"De answer, o' course! Hah! We both wanna get back at 'dose Stupid Mario Guys! 'Specially Luigi! We just gotta focus on beatin' 'em!"

"Now, just hold on a bit—"

"Waa-ha-haa! Waluigi's got it!"

_Click—SLAM._

Shadow had walked through the door. "In case you'd like to know," he said, "I saw our little mushroom friend. Bus leaves in twenty minutes."

* * *

"DADDY, WAKE UP!"

"Forget it, young one. He won't be arising anytime soon. It appears we'll have to proceed without him."

"Of course not, dude! Daddy always wakes up late. He's cool that way."

"Uh…sure. Cool."

Bowser Jr. and Dr. Eggman were hunched over Bowser, who was snoring away in his bed. He had been in this condition all morning, and although his obnoxious snoring affirmed that he was indeed alive and in control, there seemed to be no getting him up.

"Seven minutes until the bus leaves… we really should go without him…" Eggman moaned desperately.

"Naww… Watch this!" Junior replied.

That being said, he popped into his shell and vibrated around inside.

_RIIIIIIIIING!_

Bowser shot up and roared, blasting fire breath into the air before releasing a massive leap to the table and downing his bowl of Bowser-endorsed _Cocoa Koopa Krunchies_. _GOBBLE GULP SNORF_—it was finished in no less than ten seconds. Then—"_GRAHH!"_—he bounded into his Koopa Clown Car. "Hah hah hah!" he chortled. "Faster than that blue goon you call an enemy, eh?"

Eggman was silent. "Uhh…is that your idea of a nutritious breakfast? With that kind of diet, you'll never hold up in the events."

"Are you kidding? All I gotta do is scarf protein an hour before. And believe me, it takes a lot of beef to charge up this guy," Bowser responded nonchalantly. "You're lookin' at pure muscle over here."

Eggman sighed, exasperated. "That aside, we have five minutes to board the bus. How do you expect—"

"Hah!" Bowser interrupted. "Who _needs_ public transportation, anyway? Wimps, that's who! I'm taking this bad boy: the Koopa Clown Car!"

"Yeah!" Junior exclaimed, jumping into the Clown Car with his dad.

"And for _you,_ I made one special," Bowser continued. "You can thank me later."

Indeed, to Bowser's left, was the most hideous vehicle Eggman had ever seen. It had a pink rim over its purple cockpit. Its eyes looked like they had been popped out, and were dangling by springs. It had black wrinkle marks all over it, to make it look old. Its teeth were showing, and they were cracked all over the place, with a few missing. Worst of all, the word _Eggman_ had been inscribed on the back… in pink cursive.

"That…is…_DISGUSTING._"

"Yeah," Bowser agreed. "I thought it was a fitting design."

Bowser Jr. began laughing hysterically.

Dr. Eggman growled. How dare they humiliate him! Worse than the hedgehog—ten times over! "Thanks," he could finally reply, "But no thanks. I believe I'll take the Egg Mobile."

"EGG MOBILE!?" Bowser chortled. "What is it—a giant floating egg?!"

"No, you imbecile! It's a highly advanced piece of technology capable of acting as a remote controller for all my doomsday machines!"

"Sooo…It isn't a giant egg?"

"AARGG!" Eggman finally exclaimed. "I've had enough of you! I'll be off by myself, thank you very much, where I don't need to listen to your annoying voice!"

"HA!" Bowser said, unfazed. "You say that as if my voice is more annoying than yours. But we both know that's a lie."

"THAT'S IT! I'm OUT of here!" Eggman shouted, finally unable to tolerate any more of Bowser. He stormed over to his Egg Mobile, opened its side door, activated his personal portal (built last night while Bowser was asleep), used a red button to call Metal Sonic, and vanished.

Bowser smiled to himself. 1-Up-manship? Totally. That conversation had made his day. "He he. C'mon, Junior. We could take the portal he's got, but hey." His familiar devious smirk crossed his face. "Why not bug him further?"

"I see no reason why not, Daddy."

"That's my boy! Now let's head out!"

Bowser summoned his dark magic with an evil sneer. With a deafening roar, Bowser, Koopa Clown Car and son all vanished into darkness.

* * *

"All right. So, skiing."

Three teams stood at the top of the ski slope: the Shooting Stars, Team Wild, and Team Gold.

Sonic and Tails were standing next to Knuckles for the beginning of instruction. It was good to be back together again, if not for just a bit. Yoshi stood in line next to Knuckles, who, shockingly, had begun to refer to Yoshi as "buddy" or "pal". It confused the heck out of Sonic. On the other side of Sonic and Tails stood the Mario Bros., who seemed happy as usual. Yoshi had tackled them with a mega-sized hug upon their arrival, so it seemed logical that they were in high spirits. Silver stood near DK, and they seemed to be going over a few 'rules of conduct.' Wario, Waluigi, Vector, and Shadow had just arrived, and were going to line up. But as Shadow passed by the Bros., he said softly, "I'll see you plastered in snow by the time we're through."

"Hey, Shadow," Sonic called over. "Not so creepy."

"Hmph," Shadow replied.

The large group waited as a small, hovering robot moved to its place.

"Hi!" it said. "I'm Omochao. And I'm here to help. Skiing is easy. Just strap your shoes to your skis and we'll be ready to start! Go ahead and turn around."

The group made an about face and found themselves in front of a large ski rack, with the skis of all the contestants. Ownership was marked by the character's symbol.

Everyone but Shadow and Vector rushed over to their skis, excited and brimming with anticipation. They all made quick work of strapping on the skis and lining up on the line, besides, of course, Donkey Kong, who needed help from Silver and Knuckles. Once all were ready and back in line, Omochao said, "All right! Who thinks that they can give it a first shot?"

Mario and Sonic both raised their hands.

"Wow!" Omochao commented. "It looks like we have two that are ready to go. Mario, how about you start us off?"

"Yahoo!" Mario shouted, completely oblivious to Sonic's look of contempt.

"Okay, Mario. When I say go, you go, okay?" Omochao said.

_All right,_ Mario thought._ But _I _could have told you that._

"3…2…1…GO!"

"WA-hoo-hooo!" Mario shouted as the gates opened and he shot down the hill.

No flags to pass through, Mario noted. Sticking to the premade path, Mario kept going, every now and then using his poles to add an enthusiastic thrust to his speed. Soon, Mario saw a banner with the word _FINISH_ on it. He flew by it, then skidded to a stop, sending fresh powder everywhere.

"Good job!" said Omochao, hovering over to him. "Looks like you've got the hang of it!"

Mario winked at the little robot, the way he always did when he thanked someone. "Oh, yeah," he responded.

_Ding!_ they heard from the top of the hill. Down swooped Sonic, sending waves of powder on either side of him as he sharply and skillfully twisted down the hill in an elegant S-curve. He gave Mario a look, and it wasn't until moments afterward that Mario noticed Sonic was headed on a collision course with him. With a small yelp, Mario tried to run away in his bulky skis, failing tremendously. Mario looked back only to see a huge wave of snow just in time to knock him over, covering him.

Sonic started laughing.

Mario popped out of the snow, a look of innocent befuddlement on his face before he processed the trick Sonic had played on him. Then, he started to laugh, too.

Then—"WHAAA!"

Luigi, not really ready to start his run in the first place, plowed right into Mario and Sonic as he careened down the slope. They bounced and tumbled down the hill before finally stopping farther down.

They all slowly got up, and then burst into more laughter.

"Hey, really, though, you've gotta learn to steer," Sonic said after they'd settled down.

Tails skidded to a stop next to them. "No worries!" he said. "I'll make sure he knows what he's doing."

"Hey," said Luigi. "Thanks!"

"No problem."

Soon, Luigi was skiing down the hill like a semi-pro. He and Tails glided down the hill a few more times before Luigi felt he was ready for the event.

"Okay, everyone!" Omochao said once all the athletes were gathered. For this test, you'll all need to use the marked path and finish in the line I say, all the way down. Here's the order: Tails, Wario, Luigi, Shadow, Knuckles, Vector, Yoshi, Silver, Waluigi, Donkey Kong, Mario, Sonic."

"_What?"_ Sonic shouted. "How come I've gotta be _last?!_"

"Sorry," Omochao said. "Random order."

Sonic stared at Omochao agape as the robot hovered away. _Behind everyone? Behind MARIO?! _It was more than he could stand.

"Hey!" Sonic heard. It was Mario. It could be worse, Mario told him. For example… poor Luigi! Stuck between Wario and Shadow!

"Whoa," Sonic responded. "I hadn't thought of that. Yikes."

Mario grinned at Sonic and said he'd go as fast as he could.

"Thanks."

Omochao started the line. "3…2…1…GO!"

Tails started the line. At first it was simple.

Then, things got complicated for poor Luigi.

About halfway down the hill, Luigi's speed got on Wario's nerves. "HEY!" he shouted at Luigi. "Quit biting my tail, you loser!"

In a panic, Luigi used the method Tails had shown him to slow down. Unfortunately—

"Hey!" shouted Shadow from behind him. "Don't keep me waiting!"

So he sped up. "ARRG!" Wario said. "I thought I told you to— "

"B-b-but Shadow said…" Luigi stammered.

_Ah, _Wario thought. _So it's HIM, is it? Wario'd show HIM._

Abruptly, Wario slowed down and let Luigi pass him up. He went next to Shadow and exclaimed, "HEY, YOU! Stop _CRAMPING_ my _STYLE!"_

"Why would I defer to you?!" Shadow retorted.

With that, Wario side-tackled him. Poor Luigi almost lost his balance, but maintained it as Knuckles exclaimed behind Luigi, "What the heck was _that_?!"

Luigi didn't know—they'd just keep going.

At about this time, Sonic was getting fed up. Mario was keeping a nice, friendly distance between himself and Donkey Kong. Of course, he understood the reason for that… If you're behind a big gorilla when he messes up, bad news. But still… just a _little_ faster? _Please_?...

Sonic was getting an urge. _Speed_, the wind in his face called to him. _Speed._

No! responded his mental self. Not now. If I get out of line, I fail training and my—_our_ team is down a point.

_But speed._

No, not now. That can wait until the events. At the _events,_ then I can…

…_Speed!_

NO. Not now. Wait a bit longer. Wait until the bottom of the hill. At the bottom, where I'll be… at a complete stop…

_SPEED. JUST SPEED._

All right! Speed it is, then!

Sonic scrunched down on his skis and began to race forward. Mario looked at him in confusion—then he was gone. Sonic flew down the hill, past the line of racers, past the battling Wario and Shadow—what was _that_ about?—past Tails, whom he heard say, "Sonic, what are you—" and then gloriously past the finish line. "WHOO! That was AWESOME!" he heard himself say.

And then came his conscience. You idiot, it told him. What did you think you were doing?

"What did you think you were doing?" came the voice of Tails. "You weren't supposed to get out of line!"

"I know, I just…" he faded off as Luigi stopped next to them.

"Okay, everyone!" Omochao said.

...

***UNFINISHED CHAPTER!***

Please be patient as an update may be a while in the making.


End file.
